A federal judge in New Jersey on Friday ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, from detention in a legal blow to the Trump administration as it moves to deport some foreign nationals involved in anti-Israel protests.

Khalil, a 30-year-old green card holder originally from Syria, was arrested in March at his student residence in Manhattan and held at an ICE facility in Louisiana. His arrest came amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on student demonstrators he has described as antisemitic and aligned with hostile foreign groups.

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